Job Growth Boosts Manhattan Office Market

The office market is looking rosier these days in Manhattan than Northern New Jersey.

While Manhattan vacancy was down and leasing volume was up in 2010 the reverse was true in New Jersey, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

“You have to look no further than jobs,” for an explanation, says Ken McCarthy, the firm’s head of research in the New York region.

Both New Jersey and New York have lost public sector jobs in 2010. But in the city, the private sector added 50,000 jobs last year. In New Jersey, “There’s been no offsetting growth in the private sector,” Mr. McCarthy says.